Three-time Masters champion announces hiatus from golf due to ‘personal health matter’

Phil Mickelson has confirmed he will not be a part of the Masters this year.

The American legend announced the news on Thursday night, where he declared an ongoing ‘personal health matter’ will see him take a break from golf.

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In a statement issued on social media, he said: “Unfortunately, I will not play in the Masters Tournament next week and will be out for an extended period of time as my family continues to navigate a personal health matter.

“I have great respect for Augusta National Golf Club and it is definitely the most special week of the year.

“I wish everyone the best of luck and will be watching.”

Has Mickelson withdrawn from the Masters before?

Mickelson’s impending absence will be just the second time he has not played at Augusta since 1994.

The only time Mickelson has not participated in the Masters since then was in 2022.

Mickelson withdrew from the first major of the year in 2022 due to the storm created by his comments on Saudi Arabia and the PGA Tour.

The golf great claimed the backers of LIV Golf, which he has since joined, were ‘scary motherf****** to get involved with’ and ‘have a horrible record on human rights’.

However, Mickelson considered and later joined the Saudi-backed rebel league because it represented a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates’.

Once his comments went public, Mickelson said he was ‘deeply sorry for my choice of words’ and that they were ‘reckless’.

Was Mickelson not invited to the Masters following his Saudi comments?

The fallout ultimately prompted Mickelson to take ‘some time away’ from golf and the public eye.

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Some had suspected Mickelson’s absence from the Masters in 2022 was because he did not receive an invite as a form of punishment for his comments.

However, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley quickly dispelled the notion.

“I would like to say, we did not disinvite Phil,” Ridley said in 2022.

“Phil is a three-time Masters champion and is invited in that category and in others, including his status as the defending PGA Champion.

“Phil reached out to me – I think it was in late February, early March – and let me know that he did not intend to play. That was by way of a text. And I thanked him for his courtesy in letting me know.”

Mickelson first won the Masters in 2004 and repeated the feat just two years later.

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The American great scooped up his third victory at Augusta in 2010, but has not been able to recreate his heroics since.

Mickelson has come incredibly close to doing so though, having finished T2 in 2015 and 2023.

Who else will miss the 2026 Masters?

The 55-year-old isn’t the only former Masters champion who will miss the action at Augusta this year.

Tiger Woods won’t be involved at the Masters after he crashed his car in Florida.

Woods was arrested and charged with driving under the influence following the crash, although he plead not guilty.

The golf great has since declared he would be ‘stepping away’ in order to ‘return in a healthier, stronger and more focused place’.